The designer creates the page and the copywriter creates the content. Nice and boxed, right?
I don’t think it’s that clear-cut.
When I design the outcome is a mix of strategy, look, usability, imagery and words. Graphic design is a process of collating, manipulating and composing pictures and text. Is the vocabulary we choose and our application of language not a component part of branding/personality? We certainly spend a lot of time talking about tone of voice! So how can I be less invested in the words than in everything else?
Copywriters do an amazing job. When it comes to significant chunks of text, social media posts etc – a good copywriter will run rings around most designers. However, on a strategic and organisational level, the graphic designer, brand designer, web designer should not shy away from text choices. Impact, engagement, cohesion and the action we desire is as much in the letters as the graphics.
As designers the words we write are as designed as, and inseparable from, the images we make.